Former UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson found a novel way to avoid answering journalists’ questions about controversial comments he made comparing Muslim women wearing the burka to postboxes and bank robbers. Read Full Article at RT.com

They spring up from sleep and arm in a few seconds, scale high-rise buildings, and defuse bombs, but most importantly break the glass ceiling as India’s first all-female commando group. Read Full Article at RT.com

An alleged discrimination case which saw a Maori man being handed a ‘Black Guy Repellent’ sunscreen canister at his workplace stirred outcry on social media, with Twitterati claiming “racist” Australia has sunk to a “low place.” Read Full Article at RT.com

KWS identified the dead man as Chang Ming Chuang, 66, and the survivor as Wu Peng Te, 62, and said they were from China but Taiwan’s foreign ministry said the two were from the self-ruled island.

Several people have questioned the rationale of killing the hippo, which they say was provoked in ‘its natural habitat’.

Deadly times in Naivasha

The attacks brought to six the number of people who have been attacked and killed by hippos in Naivasha since the year began.

Kenya’s the Star newspaper quoted the head of a boat owners’ association in Navaisha as saying higher-than-normal water levels were causing hippos to wander from the lake on to nearby farms and hotel properties searching for pasture.

Naivasha is a city on the lake 90 km northwest of the capital, Nairobi.

After a severe drought last year, Kenya had several months of heavy rain this year that caused serious flooding, including around Lake Naivasha.

The latest anti-Semitism story to hit Labour's Jeremy Corbyn has polarised debate. His critics want him to resign immediately, while supporters are rushing to his defence, denying the accusations and crying 'fake news.'

Ethiopian Airlines capped off a hugely successful and profitable financial year by announcing that they are the frontrunner to set up and manage a new national carrier for Nigeria, its chief executive said on Friday.

Nigeria’s government last month launched a new national carrier, Nigeria Air, also indicating that it was seeking a strategic partner to invest up to $300 million and operate the new airline.

“We are among a small group with an interest in establishing a national carrier (in Nigeria)...we do not know the results (of the tender), though we are frontrunners,” Chief Executive Tewolde Gebremariam told a news conference.

The state-owned carrier has outpaced regional competitors Kenya Airways and South African Airways to become Africa’s largest airline by revenue and profit, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Ethiopian Airlines already has contracts for maintenance work with two Nigeria-based carriers, Arik Air and Medview Airline, Gebremariam said.

Nigeria Air would serve domestic and international markets and expect to have a fleet of 30 aircrafts in five years with hubs in Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria’s two main cities.

Ethiopian’s expansion strategy

The airline has been buying shares in other African airlines, a strategy aimed at gaining a competitive advantage against rivals such as those in the Gulf.

In May, Tewolde told Reuters that the airline was in talks with Chad, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea to set up carriers through joint ventures. It aimed to create a new airline in Mozambique that it will fully own, the chief executive said at the time.

In June Ethiopia said it would open Ethiopian Airlines and other companies including the telecoms monopoly up to private domestic and foreign investment, but details have not yet been made public.

Tewolde also said that net profit in the 2017/18 financial year rose to $233 million from $229 million the previous year. Ethiopia’s 2017/18 financial year ended last month.

The airline’s operating revenue rose by 43 percent to $3.7 billion in the 2017/18 financial year.

Former Nigeria winger, Emmanuel Amuneke, was on Monday named Tanzania national team coach on a two-year deal. The 1994 African Cup of Nations winner was unveiled at a press conference by Tanzania Football Federation and will be in charge of the Taifa Stars alongside local assistants and trainers.

I'm ready for this new fresh challenge as Head Coach of The Tanzania National Football Team. Thanks to the Tanzania Football Federation for their confidence. The ideas have what football requires. Let's start to work hard #amuneke #serengetibeer #kcbbank #vodacom #azamtv #TFF pic.twitter.com/RyZyDG0wF1— Emmanuel Amuneke (@AmunekeEmma9496) August 7, 2018

The 2019 U-17 African Cup of Nations CECAFA qualifiers got underway in Tanzania on Sunday. Only one team will advance from the qualifiers, from the CECAFA zone, to join the other continental qualifiers at the 2019 U-17 AFCON, slated for May 12-26 2019 in Tanzania.

At the same time, the Confederation of African Football has disqualified 11 overage players ahead of the start of the 2019 U-17 African Cup of Nations CECAFA qualifiers. According to CAF, MRI tests have proved that certain players are overage and not eligible for the tournament.

In this episode we spoke to Jeff Kinyanjui, a sports journalist in Nairobi Kenya. He shares his views on ‘age fraud’ that has been rampant in African youth championships. In April 2013, nine players were excluded from the African Under-17 Championship in Morocco after MRI wrist scans showed them to be over the age limit.

Still on the under 17s Cameroon were crowned champion of the tournament of the Union of Central African Football Federations, after the final played on Sunday against the republic of Congo, at the Malabo Stadium in Equatorial Guinea.

Dutch legends Clarence Seedorf and Patrick Kluivert were last week unveiled as Cameroon national team head and assistant coach respectively. The duo signed a four-year contract with the continental champions ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations on home soil next year and are tasked to win the tournament. The duo is tasked with qualifying the Indomitable Lions for the 2021 Afcon and 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar.

Malika is the latest character created by Roye Okupe, a Nigerian graphic designer and screenwriter, passionate about Afro Futurism. Malika’s character is openly inspired by the legend of Princess Amina de Zaria, also known as “the Warrior Queen”, who ruled over a large part of the Hausa territory in the 16th century.

Roye Okupe has been living in the United States since 2002, where he founded Youneek Studios, a Comics publishing house whose all heroes are African. His focus is to create compelling and extraordinary characters and stories inspired by African history and culture, to convey a positive representation of the continent that is too often summarized to poverty and corruption, and to change the way in which Africans and Black people around the world see themselves.

That’s why he decided to self-produce the first episodes of Malika, via a crowdfunding campaign on “Kickstarter “.

A builder took his angry work outburst to an extreme degree when he used an excavator to destroy a row of newly built houses because he was reportedly upset that he hadn’t been paid for work he had done on the properties.

Dozens of Las Vegas slot machines crashed simultaneously over the weekend, just yards from where the annual DEF CON hacking convention was taking place. No explanation for the intriguing development has been offered. Read Full Article at RT.com

Mali’s incumbent President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta on Sunday said the nation has won the fight against instability,adding that Mali is slowly recovering from the war on terrorism.

Keïta said this as he made his exit after casting his vote in Sebenicoro in Bamako in the presidential run-off poll.

“The people are positioning themselves back in line for Mali’s compelling ascent; the weaving of its history is coming back into place and I bet that all the difficulties we have faced are finally behind us”, Keïta said.

Authorities increased police and military presence at polling stations to 36,000 deployed throughout Mali, 6,000 more than in the first round. Keïta took 41 percent of the vote in last month’s first round against nearly 18 percent for Soumalia Cisse, a former finance minister and the main opposition leader.

Despite his assertion, the August 12 run-off poll did not escape the brutality of terrorists.

In the Timbuktu region, a polling station chief was killed by alleged jihadists. In the north of the country, equipment for the run-off poll were stolen, causing argument about whether or not the war on terrorism has been won.

Belarusian athlete Volha Mazuronak claimed European championship gold in the women’s marathon race on Sunday overcoming a horrendous nosebleed that caught her flat-footed just 30 minutes after the start. Read Full Article at RT.com

The value of the Turkish lira has halved this year against the US dollar. The freefall has been exacerbated by latest US threat to double tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum. But there are other factors weighing down the lira.

Ahead of the US midterms in November, the MSM has talked at length about a Russian hacking threat. Meanwhile, a competition in Las Vegas shows that when it comes to interfering with a US election, even a child can do it. Read Full Article at RT.com

Colombians wrapped up the annual flower festival in the northwest city of Medellin with a traditional parade in which local flower growers carry enormous “silletas,” or elaborate floral arrangements.

According to organizers, this year’s festival – edition number 61 – attracted more than 20,000 tourists and 510 “silleteros” as the flower designers are called.

The annual event began in 1957 to celebrate the importance of the flower growers in the region and the 19th century tradition from nearby Santa Elena of carrying goods, flowers and even sick people on residents’ backs.

Marta Isabel is a flower grower and participated in the parade.

“It’s a very important date when we showcase our ‘silletera’ culture, the hard work of the Santa Helena farmers and we come here to display beautiful artworks for the whole city of Medellin and internationally too”, she said.

For many participants like Francisco Orlando Quintero, it’s the highlight of the year. “I celebrate it more than Christmas, my birthday or any other important date,” Quintero said.

The flower arrangements placed on large wooden frames can weigh over 100 kilograms.

Colombia’s famed flower industry is the largest in the Western Hemisphere and the second largest in the world after the Netherlands.